Hi, I'm new on this forum and I'm a normal user who needs some help from experts... I apologise if my query is not in the right place. I would like to install Windows 10 Pro on my HP EliteBook 8740w laptop. The problem is that I have never installed Windows 10 on this machine. HP told me that my laptop has a OEM key stored in BIOS. The thing is that when I install Windows 7 Pro 64, this is automatically activated without any key. So can I still activate Win 10 by using my OEM key or is it no longer possible?? Thanks in advance.
First of all, thank you very much for your help indeed. But I have installed a generic ISO from Digital River and the OS is automatically activated without user intervention too. But wasn't this option also removed by Microsoft recently? Do you think I still have a chance? Thanks again and regards.
Due to the internal nature of OA 2.x, that is impossible unless you modify the standard retail installation media and slipstream the matching certificate along with the OEM:SLP key. I'm ignoring the aspect of putting the backup OEM:COA key during/after installation, as it will definitely require user intervention and internet/phone activation afterwards. Kindly grab a fresh MSDN SP1 retail media (e.g. en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_u_677332.iso) and perform a clean installation to recheck. No, Microsoft hasn't changed anything major in the KMS protocol since Windows 8.1. Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, you can still utlize the HWID generation route if you know what you're doing.
Definitely? I wonder if anybody has tested it recently, i.e. reinstalling Win7 using COA key without the need for phone activation. It always worked for me. Edit: Well, I just tried an oem:coa Win 7 key that I found on the bottom of an old laptop. Tried it on a VM, not the original laptop. It left me in initial grace period, and won't activate without a phone call. I presume the result would be the same if tried on the original laptop. I should have known that @Tito is generally correct.
Well, my laptop did not have any recovery media, only a recovery partition with Windows 7 x64 (without service pack), Office with trial period and other tools from HP. As I wanted to install a newer version of Win7, I downloaded this copy from Digital River (now archived): X17-58868.iso (download link: ht*ps://archive.org/download/digital_river/x17-58868.iso ) Then I performed a fresh install of Windows 7 SP1 x64 and, when Windows setup finished, my copy was activated. That's the problem, I don't know what I'm doing. Do you know any tutorial for this activation method? Thanks again
Are you sure it was activated? Try running the command "slmgr /dlv" from a cmd prompt. See if it reports licensed or initial grace period. HWID - it's pretty much a matter of just grabbing the latest version of massgrave from github and selecting the hwid method.
License status: Licensed Screenshot: 4shared.com/s/f4mmWX3VZge (My Windows copy is in spanish language) Ok, I will check it out. Many thanks. To staff: are you going to support the HWID method in the future?
To be precise, did you make a bootable optical media/USB, boot from it, wiped the existing HDD/SSD partitions, and perform the installation? Or just ran setup.exe from a mounted instance on top of the running OS?
I installed the OS with a bootable pendrive created with Rufus. I removed the previous partition and created a new one. I don’t like reinstallations. I have another question.I would like to install 10 on my 2nd HDD *preserving* my 7 installaton on my primary HDD. How can I do this leaving *untouched* my 7 installation? Should I hide the Windows partitions of my primary drive? Thanks
I know, but it’s quite tedious to unscrew the lid of the laptop in order to remove the drive. And the thing is that I don't see in the BIOS settings an option to disable the primary bay. Would it be enough to hide all partitions of the primary drive or could Windows Setup also find the 7 installation and install the boot manager on the 1st drive to have dual boot (something I don't want)? Thanks
Forget partitions. Just use native vhdx and you can install as many OSes you want w/o messing with partitions (among with another huge string of advantages), resizing and all related troubles from the past millennium.
Are you proposing to install 10 on a VM file (with Virtualbox, for example) but using the real hardware? I guess that way I can experiment with activation methods for Windows 10 without messing up the Windows 7 installation. When I find the right method to activate 10, then I can install it normally on my primary disk, replacing my old 7. I think is a good idea, but I need you to explain how to install a virtualized OS using the real hardware, because I've always installed virtualized OSes using emulated hardware (the standard way). Thanks for your idea.